Word Counter

Word count isn't a direct Google ranking factor — Google has said this on the record more times than we can count. What it IS is a strong proxy for topical depth. When someone searches "how to fix a slow website," a 300-word answer almost never satisfies them; a 1,500-word walk-through with screenshots, before/after numbers, and troubleshooting usually does. Google measures satisfaction indirectly through dwell time, scroll depth, and pogo-sticking (users bouncing back to search results). Longer, more useful content wins those signals almost every time.

That said, longer isn't automatically better. A 2,000-word page padded with fluff performs worse than an 800-word page that answers the question completely. The rule we use: write until you've covered the topic properly, then stop. Then cut 10%.

Meta titles get cut off around 580 pixels in desktop search — roughly 50–60 characters depending on which letters you use (i's take less room than w's). Meta descriptions get truncated around 155–160 characters on desktop and closer to 120 on mobile. Twitter/X titles display up to 70 characters cleanly; Facebook OG titles get about 100.

Use the counter above to check every meta description before you publish. A truncated description ending in "..." looks unprofessional and cuts your click-through rate by 3–8% in most tests we've seen. If you can't fit your value proposition in 155 characters, you haven't distilled it enough yet.

We use 225 words per minute, which is the average reading speed for adult non-fiction on a screen. Print reading averages 250–300 wpm; screen reading is slower because of scanning, back-tracking, and interruptions. Specialized content (legal, medical, technical) is slower still — often 150–180 wpm.

Reading time matters for two reasons. First, it sets user expectations at the top of a post ("6 min read") which increases completion rates. Second, Google's own quality raters explicitly consider whether time-on-page matches the promised read length. A 10-minute article where users leave after 40 seconds is a signal the content didn't deliver.